A Fluffy Post

Just because I feel like writing one in this world where the important question about the New York Times debacle seems to be whether its journalists should be drawn and quartered immediately or only after a prolonged use of thumb-screws and not whether the Bush administration has exceeded its legal powers. And because one of my relatives believes that Valerie Plame will be arrested and sent to jail any day now, for treason.

Here's the fluffiness: Yesterday I wore a "Got Democracy?" t-shirt and got lots of wary looks from bypassers. Today I wear a "Never Believe Anything I say" t-shirt and nobody bats an eyelid. Don't you think that this reflects the current political situation in the whole country? A kind of resigned apathy. - Not that I like wearing t-shirts with messages; it's more fun to be mysterious. But I haven't done laundry for a while.

The Supreme Court did some laundry, though, and hung it all out to dry. Tom deLay's political redistricting in Texas was mostly allowed to remain, though there will be some redrawing of the map to protect minority voting rights. I don't think that the decision is good for democracy (see how I'm tying this to the t-shirt part here?), because if the parties in power can gerrymander to their hearts' content we are going to get lots of districts where only one candidate is truly viable. And that means a situation not so different from what the Soviet Union used to do: put up one single candidate and let people vote yes or no.